Norwegian Breakaway for Kids: An 11-Year-Old’s Review of New York’s Newest Ship

I spent yesterday afternoon touring the Breakaway, Norwegian Cruise Lines' newest ship, along with a number of Condé Nast Traveler readers and family travel bloggers. Also onboard was one of the sharpest cruise critics I know: my son Charlie.

I spent yesterday afternoon touring the Breakaway, Norwegian Cruise Lines' newest ship, along with a number of Condé Nast Traveler readers and family travel bloggers. Also onboard was one of the sharpest cruise critics I know: my son Charlie. Believe it or not, Breakaway was his tenth ship, and because we were onboard to investigate firsthand the kid-focused offerings of the ship, which sails year-round from New York City, I thought I’d leave it to Charlie to summarize the best of what the Breakaway offers its younger passengers:

Sometimes the kids activities on cruise ships can be deceiving. An activity or ride can look awesome but turns out to be really boring. Or an activity can look lame but turn out to be really fun. So I can’t tell you about all the things on the ship that I didn’t get to test—like Splash Academy and the video arcade—but I can tell you about four things that I think families will love doing together.

The Ropes Course Usually families have to wait for the ports of call to do activities like zip-lining, but this ship lets families start their adventure onboard. This ropes course has a variety of different challenges, including an eight-foot plank that goes over the edge of the ship. It was kind of scary but kind of cool. The zip-line is short but has a great view: I could see the entire city and the entire ship.

The Aqua Park This is a mini water park onboard the ship. There are five water slides and they aren’t just little ones either. There are two quadruple corkscrews, and one long, twisty one. And there’s also Freefall, which is two twin water slides that are the most interesting ones I’ve ever seen. You go up, but without a tube and conveyor belt. You are locked in a capsule leaning back at a small angle, standing on a stable flap. You hear 3, 2, 1, and the flap opens up, and you go shooting down, wearing something on your back that helps you slide.

Mini Golf I didn’t actually get to try this, but I got a good view of it from the ropes course, which is above the mini golf course. There is a wide variety of holes. Each has a different theme; one hole is a turtle, one is a castle, one is a guy at the beach. Everyone playing seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Getting Slimed The Breakaway has a lot of Nickelodeon characters and shows. At Nickelodeon slime is the highest honor. Not every kid gets to be slimed, so I don't want to get your hopes up, but, trust me, you want to get slimed. I had no idea what it was going to feel like. I expected it to be cold, but it was really warm. The biggest surprise was how thick and heavy and gooey it was, and it took a while to clean it off. It was really sticky and still in my hair eight hours later. Getting slimed is messy, but it's worth it.